Proof
by TStabler
Summary: Post PC - Babs forces Elliot and Olivia to reevaluate certain things, and leaves them both with the aching need to prove things to themselves and each other. What they set out to prove, though, only leads to them proving what they weren't ready to admit.


**A/N: Saw the re-run of this ep today and was inspired. Set right after "PC," literally, the moment after we've been "Dick-Wolfed" but I have them being partners for ten years, and El and Kathy have recently divorced. **

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf, genius, owns SVU and its characters. TStabler©, fan of genius, owns this story, the narrative, the dialogue, and everything but the characters.**

Olivia smirked and nodded as Babs walked out, but she couldn't help the pang of jealousy ripping through her body. Why the fuck did Babs kiss him? Wasn't it Babs who only a few days ago had told her he had the hots for her? Was this Babs's way of getting her to make a move? She shook it off, then realized something, turning to a still-shell-shocked Elliot. "What the hell do you mean, 'you think' I was acting?"

Elliot snapped himself out of the daze Babs's kiss had put him in. He wiped his mouth hard with his sleeve and said, "Christ, Liv, I was teasing you." He turned toward the door. "She kissed me. Did you see that?"

"You think?" Olivia repeated, still pissed that he could even joke about her sexuality, as if he hadn't noticed she been flirting relentlessly with him for the last ten years. She huffed, not in the mood to deal with what she considered the day from hell anymore, grabbed her leather jacket, gave Elliot one last glare, and stormed out of the bullpen.

"Liv!" Elliot called, running out after her. "Olivia, dammit!" He got to the elevator in time to see it close. "Shit!" he spat, turning around and pushing the door open to run down the stairs.

Olivia, still fuming, was determined to prove that, not only was she straight, but she could get any man wrapped around her finger in less than thirty seconds. She didn't flaunt the goods anymore because there was only one man she really wanted, one she thought she could never have, and was holding out for, but that didn't mean she couldn't _get_ anyone else. She smirked, a devilish smirk, as she stepped off the elevator, knowing the stairwell door opened at the same moment. She led Elliot out of the precinct and down the street, staying far enough ahead of him to make him believe she couldn't hear him calling her. She made him tail her down the block into Mahoney's pub, and she made him watch as she took off her leather jacket and black shirt, hanging them in the corner.

That's when Elliot stopped moving. He stayed perfectly still as Olivia scanned the room, looking for her prey, and his eyes widened when hers narrowed. He watched as she moved slowly over to a very good-looking man at the bar.

Olivia knew, and was very grateful, that Elliot was watching. He needed to see this. She leaned over and asked the bartender for a whiskey on the rocks, earning the attention of the hunk next to her. She turned to him and smiled brightly, just barely catching Elliot's eye and smirking. He introduced himself, she shook his hand. He said something charming and she threw her head back in a flirtatious laugh. Her hand went to his shoulder, then trailed slowly down his arm, and she never stopped smiling. Her eyes shot back to Elliot for a moment and she grinned, seeing what she assumed was acknowledgment of her straightness, but it was so much more than that.

Elliot, watching, was not surprised at how jealous he was getting. He knew he had no right, no claim to Olivia at all, but he wanted nothing more than to go over to her and take her...well, just take her. He smirked, catching her eyes, knowing she was looking at him. She was playing with him. Is that what she _wanted_ him to do? Fine. He would then. He walked over and grabbed her arm, ripping it off of the strangers. "All right," he said, "You proved your point."

"Have I?" Olivia asked, raising her eyebrow. "What point is that, exactly?"

"Woah," the man said, catching a glimpse of Elliot's wedding band, "I didn't know you were married."

Olivia laughed, bitterly. "Married? Yeah, right, pal. We're not even..."

"Honey," Elliot said, gritting his teeth, gripping her arm harder, "Like I said, you've proven that you could come in and pick up any guy in the place. You still got it. Now, would you please, just...come home with me?"

Olivia's breath hitched, and she turned to look at Elliot. What the hell was he doing? He was ruining her one shot at having a guilt free night with a man she didn't care about hurting. "Elliot, what the hell are you..."

"Liv," Elliot interrupted, "You don't need to prove anything, okay? Not like this. Just get your jacket and let's go home. Now." The look in his eyes was manic, desperate, and clear.

Olivia, afraid of what he would do if she said no, got off of the stool, looked to man she'd met, and said, "It was really nice meeting you. Sorry about my, uh, partner here. He's a bit overprotective."

"I see that," the man said. "Maybe some other time."

Elliot pulled Olivia away and shouted, "I doubt that, pal." He led Olivia over to the coatrack, got her shirt and jacket and pulled her outside.

Once they hit the cool, night air, she pulled her arm out of his grasp. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked, yelling in a whisper.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Elliot spat back.

"I was being hit on by a very attractive stock broker!" Olivia said, folding her arms. "He was working his way to an actual date."

"Yeah, I noticed," Elliot grumbled. "Look, Liv, if you wanted to prove you were straight, you didn't have to come out here and find that asshole to do it!"

Olivia scoffed. "Fuck, El, he wasn't an asshole," she snapped.

"Yes, he was," Elliot snapped back, pulling Olivia in the direction of his car.

"Where are you taking me, Assy McBigpants?" Olivia asked, deliberately using the name Babs had so lovingly given him earlier that week.

Elliot scoffed. "Told you," he said. "Home." He pulled on her arm, harder, and when they reached his car, he opened the passenger side door. But before he tossed her into the vehicle he leaned closer to her. "You got something to prove to me, Liv, you prove it to _me_, directly got it? Not some Wall Street scumbag who won't even be there when you wake up in the morning." He pushed her into the car, smirking at the look on her face, and slammed the door.

Olivia took a breath as she watched him get into the driver's seat and start the car. How far was he willing to take this? Or had Babs been right? Was he doing this because he was jealous, too? Did he want her as much as she wanted him? She figured since she was already sinking, she might as well go down with the ship. "El," she said as he pulled out of the parking lot, "I'm not proving jack shit to you with that ring on your finger. She's been gone for..."

Elliot stopped her speaking by rolling down the window, ripping the gold band off of his finger, and tossing it out onto the road. Olivia heard the clink of the metal on the asphalt. Elliot glanced at her. "Guess we both have something to prove tonight," he said, smirking.

"Guess so," Olivia said, nerves evident in her voice.

Elliot drove faster than he ever had, trying to get to his apartment, and when he swerved into the parking deck, Olivia fell into him. He chuckled and said, "What kind of cop are you? Not wearing your seatbelt? Bad girl."

"Shut up," Olivia spat, sitting up straight. "You're the one breaking every traffic law known to man." She opened the door as soon as the car was turned off, and she sped toward the entrance to his building.

Elliot was hot on her heels, unwilling to let her have the upper hand in this in any way. In the elevator, though, she turned to him.

"You have real balls, ya know?" Olivia hissed. "Thinking this is really gonna happen. I shouldn't have to prove..."

"You don't have to prove anything to me, Liv," Elliot said, his eyes serious, looking deep into her eyes. "I told you, back at the house, that I was teasing you. I know who you are. I know everything about you." He reached out a hand and brushed her hair back. "I followed you to that bar because I didn't want you making some huge mistake, face it, that's all anyone you picked up there would have been. I also saw you looking at me. You can try to deny it, but part of you _wanted_ to make me jealous. Right? That's what you _really_ wanted to prove. That you could get to me, the way that I get to you."

Olivia's eyes widened. "What?" she asked, scared. How could he know?

"Liv," Elliot said, taking her hand as the elevator doors opened, "I see it in your eyes." He tugged her gently down the hall as he spoke. "Whenever I was with Kathy, or whenever someone else gave me any kind of suggestive look, you got jealous. I did the same thing! With Porter, with Trevor, with Kurt, with Andy, I was a monster! But it took me setting up a kiss in the squadroom and you leading me to a bar to get us to..."

"Hold on," Olivia said, cutting him off, "You set that up? You asked Babs to kiss you?"

Elliot turned the key to his apartment, opening the door, and sighed. "Yeah," he said. "See, before, I thought I was just imagining the jealousy. I thought it was just wishful thinking. I needed to see it. I needed proof."

"She was right," Olivia said quietly. Elliot heard her though.

"Who was right about what?" Elliot asked her, walking her over to the couch. He sat down, pulled her next to him, and looked into her eyes.

Olivia sighed. "Babs," she said. "She told me you had the hots for me. I told her it was never gonna happen. I led you to that bar tonight to see if..."

"To prove she was right," Elliot said, leaning closer. "Liv, when I said we both had something to prove tonight, I didn't mean that you had to prove you were straight, or that I had to prove I was over my divorce."

Olivia, still looking into his eyes, watching him get closer, swallowed hard and asked, "What did you mean?"

"I meant, we have to prove that we're both ready to stop being so scared," Elliot said. "We have to prove that we've been idiots for the last ten fucking years, we have to prove that the feelings we_ think _we've been feeling for each other are very, _very_ real, and we have to prove that we both really wish it was me in that interrogation room with you this afternoon. Because you know damn well I would have grabbed you off of your feet, thrown you down on that table and bent you all the way over."

"No, you wouldn't have," Olivia said, holding his gaze.

"Why not?" Elliot asked, raising an eyebrow.

Olivia smirked. "Cragen was behind the glass."

"Well, then we would have been proving a little something to him, too," Elliot said with a chuckle.

"What?" Olivia asked, as Elliot moved in that last inch, brushing his lips against hers.

Elliot smirked, breathing Olivia in, grazing her lips with his, nuzzling her nose as he said, "That we're probably gonna need new partners." He gave her a light peck on the lips, testing the waters. Then he said, "We will if we can't keep this a fucking secret."

Olivia, taking a chance she wasn't sure she should be taking, smirked back at him and said, "No one will be able to prove anything."

Elliot laughed as he pressed his lips to hers again, then slowly licked her lips. She let him in and he took the invitation, cupping her face, holding her in a deep kiss, proving Babs right, proving he loved Olivia, proving Olivia was not only straight but that she loved him, and proving that they were both finally ready to give whatever was between them a chance. He pulled away smiling, resting his forehead against hers. "You know, don't you?" he asked, whispering. "Baby, you have to know."

Olivia nodded. "I'd like to hear you say it, though. Just to, ya know, prove it."

Elliot laughed. "You first," he dared, jutting his chin forward and winking.

Olivia looked at him. She took a deep breath and said, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Elliot replied. He pulled her back toward him for another kiss, sighing in relief knowing, for the first time in years, he would be going to sleep with someone who truly loved him in his arms, and he would wake up with nothing to prove.

**A/N: Little plot bunny that was hopping around. Had to set it free into the wild. A few stories will be updated tomorrow. And yes, I'm still taking requests. Leave a review here, or at TMG212 on Twitter!**


End file.
